Due to the change in funding mechanism at the national level, we are unable to post our funding opportunities until we receive approval from the National Network Coordinating Office (NNCO). As soon as we receive clearance to proceed, we will post our opportunities and publicize them via the listserv, blog, and Facebook page.

We are sincerely sorry for the delay. I’ve received questions from a number of you. Please be patient and trust that we’ll get the information to you as soon as possible. All of the Regional Medical Libraries in the nation are experiencing the same issue. We’re not alone!

For an update on GMR activities, new staff, and an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback, please consider joining us for our monthly GMR Update webinars. The next webinar will take place on Monday, July 25th at 2pm CST. Connection information will be made available one week prior to the event.

Our office is pleased to announce that Molly Olmstead has accepted the position of Administrative Services Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region. Molly joins us on July 1st, 2016.

Molly has been employed as the Administration & Human Resources Secretary for the University Libraries’ since August 2015. During her time in that role, Molly processed HRIS transactions, time records, maintained employee information, tracked expenses, and coordinated the student employment program. Prior to this, Molly was employed as a Project Coordinator at Pearson supporting ongoing operational assessment.

In her new role with the GMR office, Molly will be processing travel transactions, registering for and maintaining a schedule of exhibiting, serving as a first point of contact for the GMR office phone number and email address, processing sub-awards and updating awardees on funding progress, handling NLM brochure mailings to members, assisting with communications, and assisting with maintaining entries in the NN/LM exhibit database.

Molly holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Journalism and is a passionate fan of Faulkner.

Greetings from your Network Librarian for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region (GMR), a new or should I say revised position for the new location of the Regional Medical Library (RML). As you may already know, on May 1, 2016, the RML moved from the University of Illinois at Chicago to the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, and I moved along with it–well, virtually at least. I am still in Chicago, telecommuting to the new RML office but will be heading out to Hardin once a month or so for staff meetings. My duties as Network Librarian include regional member services, DOCLINE®, Emergency Preparedness and Response, and MedPrint, among others. I also will be one of the office leads for the Portal, the online reporting database for contract and activity reports.

To understand what the 2016-2021 grant will mean to you, a good place to start is the GMR Proposal for the 2016-2021 grant. The proposal is linked from the About GMR tab on the top navigation bar of the GMR website, http://nnlm.gov/gmr/. The proposal lists ten aims that the GMR has outlined for the five-year grant. Several of these aims involve network membership directly. These aims are summarized here:

AIM 1: Partnerships with regional network members
AIM 3: Expand and manage the GMR network
AIM 4: Strengthen the Network National Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan
AIM 5: Increase the number of network members actively and effectively participating in NLM programs and services within the GMR

As Network Librarian, I hope to enhance network membership by building upon current connections and creating new partnerships throughout the GMR and nationally. Several types of organizations are part of the GMR, not only “libraries of medicine”. NN/LM has expanded to include different types of libraries as well as other information centers who have health information access as part of their mission. Public libraries, community college libraries, community based organizations (CBOs), and faith-based organizations (FBOs), and even departments of public health are Network Members. How can you be sure that your organization is an engaged member of NN/LM? Start by checking your member profile. The easiest way to do this is through the Network Members Directory, http://nnlm.gov/members/adv.html. If you see that your contact information is out-of-date and you have access to DOCLINE, you can login to update. If you are not a DOCLINE user, send me an email with the correct information, and I will update it for you. I may be reached at jacqueline-leskovec at uiowa.edu.

My colleague Jingyi Wang and I had the pleasure of representing Taubman Health Sciences Library and promoting our GMR resources while attending the biennial conference for the visually-impaired known as “VISIONS” on May 11th, 2016. This day-long event, held at Washtenaw Community College’s Morris Lawrence Pavilion, was organized by the staff of the Ann Arbor District Library. There were several hundred persons attending, and 30 exhibitors who demonstrated the latest products and services for the blind and visually impaired. Included in the exhibits were accessible hardware and software applications, magnifiers, electronic readers, Braille devices, library services, CCTVs, leader dogs, support services for the blind and transportation services; these were just a few of the many outstanding services and products on display.

We interacted with many of these participants along with talking to a number of vendors, primarily about MedlinePlus and the valuable resources it offers, especially the senior-oriented version of its sibling website NIHSeniorHealth. The participants at VISIONS were also happy to learn about a number of local health services, both dental and medical, that we pointed out to them. And since a number of service dogs accompanied their people–we cannot omit mentioning their important assistance to the attendees. Although naturally we could not interact with the assistance dogs, we found that the people who accompanied them were happy to talk to us on a multitude of topics whether related to reliable online health information or what else we could provide them to facilitate their activities of daily living.

Our table was situated between the National Federation of the Blind, Michigan Chapter, and the Lions Club representatives. Nearby were a poster and information about a series of free summer camps for the blind and visually impaired called “Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind.”

Through talking with vendors and participants, we learned of the exciting technology and adaptive devices being developed for the visually-challenged, and thus we were reinforced in our impression that this new technology is changing people’s lives. For example, we witnessed the fact that a tiny mechanical object can announce the denomination of a piece of paper currency to a visually-impaired individual, thus eliminating confusion as to what his or her wallet holds.

This event was particularly effective in that it brought communities together where everyone learned something new from someone else. Vendors shared their resources with participants and participants gave feedback and suggestions to vendors. Service organizations explained how they could be of assistance. And, of course, a number of accompanying service dogs were present. In summary, friendliness and a positive atmosphere prevailed. In summary, the atmosphere was very positive and welcoming to all.

Anna Ercoli Schnitzer has worked at University of Michigan’s Taubman Health Sciences Library first as a medical reference librarian, later as an outreach librarian, and, most recently, as a disability issues librarian. Anna is a recipient of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine’s Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award which recognizes outstanding service and contributions to rural and underserved communities by a practicing health sciences librarian.

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The GMR will sponsor the registration costs for up to two (2) sites per state in the region for each MLA Webinar. Since a limited number of sites can be sponsored, please work with your state and local health science librarian groups to identify centralized locations.

IMPORTANT: With your form, please describe how many attendees you expect to draw at your location and how you plan to promote this webinar to those in your area. You may write this in the email accompanying the electronic submission.

Selection Process: Site selection will be based on geographical location, accessibility and potential number of attendees. For each event, the GMR intends to fund two (2) sites per state. Please note that the GMR will be covering the costs for Site Registration only, not Individual Registration.

Site coordinators will receive one (1) activity point applicable to their Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP) membership. Additional point(s) are available for leading wrap-around sessions.

Registration is now open for the Great Lakes Science Boot Camp for Librarians and Library Students. This immersive 2 ½ day conference offers librarians and library students an opportunity to learn about current research advancements in science. The areas of focus include small science, public health and disease, and the environment. The Great Lakes Science Boot Camp will strive to cultivate an ongoing learning community of academic and medical librarians dedicated to providing research support to faculty and graduate students.

Cost? $195 for overnighters. This cost includes lodging for Wednesday and Thursday nights, parking, breakfast (July 14 – 15), lunch (July 13 – 15), a dinner and mini-disc golf event, a keynote presentation and dinner, librarian lightning talks (please submit a proposal), core research facility tours, and researcher presentations on small science, public health and disease, and the
environment. Those who wish to arrive/stay overnight on Tuesday can do so for an additional $55.

The commuter fee, which includes everything above except lodging, is $145.

You are required to create an account in Notre Dame’s conference registration system to complete and submit your GLSBC registration. Please make sure you complete all steps until you see the registration confirmation screen (you will also receive a registration confirmation email).

I’m attaching slides from today’s GMR update as well as slides from the Outreach Librarians presentation from earlier this week. We’re working on getting our recordings captioned so we can upload and share those as well.

I want to thank you all for your patience. Without access to NN/LMs software (WebEx), we’ve been doing a lot of DIY to communicate and move forward on some of this. I know the IT folks at NN/LM are working to get WebEx federated for our institution as quickly as possible.

For those of you that were unable to connect today, we’ll try to get the recording out by the end of the week next week. In the meantime, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

It is our great pleasure to announce that Jacqueline Leskovec has been hired for the role of Network Librarian for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine’s Greater Midwest Regional Office.

Jacqueline Leskovec, MLIS, MA, RN has been with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine since 2005. Her roles at the former office evolved from Outreach and Communications Coordinator, Outreach and Evaluation Coordinator, and Outreach, Planning, and Evaluation Coordinator during that time.

Prior to her work at the Greater Midwest Region, Jacqueline was on the faculty at the University of South Florida Area Health Education Center program, providing outreach services over a nine-county region. She was branch manager at the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Before her foray into health sciences librarianship, Jacqueline worked for almost twenty years as a registered professional nurse.

In her new role, Jacqueline will enhance network membership by building upon current connections and creating new partnerships throughout the Greater Midwest Region and nationally.

Jacqueline will be working from her home office in Chicago and traveling to the office once monthly for staff meetings.

We are excited to have Jacqueline on board!

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